“Never be a food snob. Learn from every one you meet: the lady at the lo­cal diner, farm­ers, cheese mak­ers. Ask ques­tions, try ev­ery­thing and eat up” – Rachel Ray

If you don’t know Lisa Van­der­pump, what rock have you been liv­ing un­der? The re­al­ity star of Van­der­pump Rules and The Real Housewives of Bev­er­ley Hills opened up a swanky restau­rant called TomTom with her Van­der­pump Rules cast mem­bers, Tom Schwartz and Tom San­doval. The dé­cor is in­spired by a mad sci­en­tist theme and has a largely ro­man­tic in­dus­trial vibe with a cre­atively cu­rated menu that in­cludes sec­tions called Un­der Wa­ter, From The Farm and #Par­tyAn­i­mals: think brioche kobe slid­ers. Drool.

TAV E R N A T O N Y, MAL­IBU

This beau­ti­fully rus­tic Greek tav­erna, with its large pa­tio, smooth patina terra-cotta tiles and bougainvil­lea twined veranda, right in the heart of Mal­ibu brings Mediter­ranean flavours right to your plate. It’s best to go at it with mezzes, with a de­li­cious choice of ke­falo­graviera (Greek sheep’s milk cheese spread on warm bread) or melintzanos­alata dip (that’s baked eg­g­plant, sesame oil, gar­lic and lemon). You can­not leave Tav­erna Tony without stuff­ing your­self with Tav­erna fries: crum­bled ke­falotiri cheese, oregano and cracked pep­per are sprin­kled on top. It’s no won­der this is Kourt­ney Kar­dashian’s favourite date-night spot.

IN-N-OUT

Some­times in life, all you need is a juicy burger and a large cut of fries. And noth­ing hits the spot quite like an In-N-Out burger. There’s noth­ing ex­cep­tion­ally fancy, just a per­fectly con­cen­tric burger with a packet of ooz­ing fries. Sit in your car in the drive through and sa­vor every last bite. And, In-N-Out is only a Cal­i­for­nia thing – it doesn’t ex­ist any­where else in the world. One for the ‘Gram.

NOBU, MAL­IBU

An­other cult favourite which needs no in­tro­duc­tion, re­ally – Chef Nobu has cre­ated food vul­tures (in the most so­phis­ti­cated way) in us all with his menu of top-rate sushi. And there is al­ways a starry line-up of celebs. It’s on the pricey side so if you want an ex­pe­ri­ence, we sug­gest you go for sun­set drinks – you won’t be dis­ap­pointed.

BAROO

Lo­cated on Santa Mon­ica Boule­vard this tiny restau­rant – named af­ter bowls from which monks eat – has white walls, a com­mu­nal ta­ble, a few stools and is eas­ily one of LA’s best kept se­cret. It’s touted for its lo­cally sourced Korean eats, cooked by the two owner chefs. And you def­i­nitely know it’s au­then­tic when there is a fer­men­ta­tion wall…